Murder of a Vanderhoof Cousin

While researching Vanderhoofs who relocated from New Jersey to Wisconsin, I encountered a sad case.

Sheri Lee Keller was murdered in 1980 when she was 17 years old. She was kidnapped while hitchhiking and then run over when she escaped. She died six weeks after this assault.

Newspaper article announcing the death of Sheri Keller, 1980 in Wisconsin

Thomas Glander was arrested for killing Sheri. He stood trial and was found not guilty in 1981.

Newspaper article announcing the not guilty verdict in the murder trial

In the 1850s some of the Morris County, New Jersey families relocated to Wisconsin. A few years earlier, in 1848, Wisconsin had become the 30th state.

Map of the United States of America early 1850s
Designated places: Morris County, New Jersey and
Sheboygan County, Wisconsin

At this time, I do not know why some Vanderhoofs made this trek. Modern-day roads offer this route at about one thousand miles. Traveling from New Jersey to Wisconsin in the 1850s must have been treacherous.

Twisted Lines

Sheri was a 5th cousin and a 6th cousin to my father. The common ancestors were Jacob Vanderhoof (1772-1847) and Ann Hopler (1772-1841), as well as Ann's parents, Conrad Hopler (1730-1815) and Elizabeth DeMouth (1735-1812).

Sheri's great great grandparents were second cousins to each other. Conrad and Elizabeth had two daughters, Ann and Susan (1783-1863). Ann's grandson Peter (1827-1910) married Susan's granddaughter Susannah Shauger (1836-1913).

These relationships are confusing to spell out. Below is a diagram that should demonstrate the marriages and children.

Family tree
Ancestors of Sheri and writer's father: Hopler, DeMouth, Vanderhoof

Mary (1822-1861), Not a Daughter of Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler

Beware of blindly accepting published family trees!

Jacob Vanderhoof (1772-1847) and Ann Hopler (1772-1841) lived and died in Morris County, New Jersey. This couple produced thousands of descendants, myself included. As a consequence, they are found in lots of online family trees. Vanderhoof and variant spellings were common in New York and New Jersey in the 1700s and 1800s, resulting in many different people having similar first and last names living within miles of one another. The few written records that survive lack details that would help distinguish one person from another of the same name.

The result is lots of trees that merge different people into one, or criss-cross the lines.

As of this writing, I have not sorted all of the men named Jacob Vanderhoof. I'll produce articles as I figure out children, record sets, or locations.

A tree appeared with Jacob, Ann, and sixteen children. I explored this tree because I was curious about the sources about their daughter, Elizabeth (1799-1878). The picture for Elizabeth is that of a young woman. Elizabeth was well-past her youth when cameras and photographs were invented, so this cannot be her.

Tree of Jacob Vanderhoof, Ann Elizabeth Hopler, and sixteen children

I looked at the youngest offered child, Mary, born in 1822, when her mother was fifty. The only source is another family tree. This will not suffice.

Source for the life of Mary Vanderhoof is another tree

In 1848, Mary Vanderhoof and J K Odell married in Sussex County, New Jersey. This was just before state-wide registry was required; however, the event was recorded at the county level and can be viewed online. From this record we see that the bride was described as "of Wantage." This is in Sussex County, about thirty miles northwest of Rockaway Valley in Morris County, where Jacob Vanderhoof and and Ann Hopler had resided before their deaths.

March 30, 1848. Mr J K Odell of Hardiston to Miss Mary Vanderhoof of Wantage.
Sussex County, New Jersey Marriages 1828-1853

On October 30, 1861 Mary Odel died in Vernon, Sussex County. This record is also available online. State-wide registration was in the form of ledger books at this time. The cause of death was consumption, or tuberculosis. Her parents were Jacob and Elizabeth Vanderhoof.

Mary Odell has a memorial page at Find A Grave, along with a photograph of the stone. She was buried at Deckertown Union Cemetery in Wantage.

Mary Vanderhuff Odell (1823-1861)
Memorial page at Find A Grave

The above-mentioned sources don't help us definitively rule Mary in or out as a daughter of Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler. Without visiting this cemetery in person, we can check for other Vanderhoofs buried there.

We find Jacob A Vanderhuff (1791-1870) and Elizabeth Swan (1793-1870) listed in the same cemetery as Mary. They seem more likely to be her parents. (Yes, Mary is listed as their daughter at Find A Grave. This is because I requested this change after finding and reviewing documents.)

Jacob A Vanderhuff (1791-1870)
Memorial page at Find A Grave

Elizabeth Swan Vanderhuff (1793-1870)
Memorial page at Find A Grave

The will of Jacob A Vanderhuff is viewable online. He left his estate to his living children and to three of his grandchildren, "children of John K Odell and my daughter Mary, now deceased."

Will of Jacob A Vanderhuff of Vernon, Sussex County, New Jersey.
Proved August 17, 1870.

This helps chip away at one bit of inaccuracy in the Vanderhoof tree. More to come.

Related Stepmother on Marriage Record

A marriage record is an excellent way of discovering the names of the parents of the bride and groom. The parties helped create the document and could ensure completeness and accuracy, as opposed to birth and death records in which the subject of the document is of no assistance in providing information.

That said, the information is not always accurate.

This was the case with the marriage record of William Hanford Ocoboc (1872-1941) and Anna Holander (1874-1948). They married December 15, 1894 in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey. William was raised in Rockaway, Morris County, New Jersey, but relocated to Essex County after the marriage. (Hanford is also spelled "Handford." Ocoboc has spelling variants, such as "Ockobock.")

William's parents were Hanford Ocoboc (1844-1918) and Ann Elizabeth Cook (1854-1885); however, on the marriage record, his mother was listed as Clara Lee (1861-1913).

Marriage record.
William Ocoboc and Anna Holander married December 15, 1894
in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.

Names of William Ocoboc's parents as reported on his 1894 marriage record.
His mother was actually Ann Cook, not Clara Lee.

Clara was William's father's second wife. Clara and Ann were first cousins. Their grandparents were Stephen Cook (1798-1853) and Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878).

Family tree showing relationship of the two wives of Hanford Ocoboc (1844-1918).
William's marriage record listed Clara, not Ann, as his mother.

William was about thirteen years old when his mother died in 1885. The following year, his father remarried, resulting in another child born into the family. William was old enough to remember these events and know that his mother was Ann, not Clara. Perhaps he named Clara as his mother out of respect to her. Perhaps someone else supplied the information and William did not notice the discrepancy. We may never know. We must verify all information with other records whenever possible.

Hanford was related to both his wives. Through Hanford's paternal side, he was their second cousin, once removed. They shared ancestors Conrad Hopler (1730-1816) and Elizabeth Demuth (1735-1814). Handford's mother was Elizabeth Vanderhoff (1812-1889). Presumably she and the other Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878) were related.

Relationship of Hanford Ocoboc (1844-1918)
and his two wives

The resulting children of these unions were their own cousins.

Amanuensis Monday: Will of Conrad Hopler, proved 1816 in Morris County, New Jersey

In the name of God Amen.

I, Conrad Hopler, of the Township of Pequanack, in the County of Morris, and State of New Jersey, being sound of mind and memory this tenth day of May in the year of our Lord Eighteen hundred and fifteen, do make the following as my last will and testament.

First I give and bequeath unto my daughters, Charlotte, wife of Henry Mourison, Elizabeth, wife of William vanWinkle, Catharine, wife ofIsaac Tuttle, Ann, wife of Jacob Vanderhoof, Sarah, wife of David Occabock, Margaret, wife of James Shaw, and Susannah, wife of James Lyon, and to their heirs and assigns forever all that part of two certain tracts of land which I am lawfully seized of at present, the one originally contained sixty three acres and four tenths and the other eighty six acres and six tenths which said two tracts of land was surveyed and returned to Joseph Hopler, my father, on the twenty eighth day of March AD Seventeen hundred and fifty by virtue of a deed to him from Gershom Mott by a deed bearing date the twelfth day of March Seventeen hundred and forty nine fifty- this is now about sixty seven acres of the two said tracts that I am now possessed of which I wish to be equally divided between my said six daughters above named or their lawful representatives according to quantity and quality- to them their heirs or assigns forever. The said lands being situate near where John Tucker now living in the township of Pequanack abovesaid.

Second I give and bequeath unto my son, Peter Hopler, and to his heirs and assigns forever, the house and barn where I now live and the lot of land where they stand bounded as follows- Beginning in the road distant one chain and ninety links due west from the west corner of my dwelling house, thence /1/ north forty two degrees and fifteen minutes east four chains and fifty links to an apple tree; thence /2/ south seventy one degrees and thirty minutes east one chain and thirty four links; thence /3/ south three degrees west three chains and twenty links; thence /4/ south fifty degrees and thirty minutes west two chains, to the middle of the aforesaid road; thence /5/ westerly along the said road to the place of beginning, containing one acre be the same more or less.

Thirdly I give and bequeath unto my said son Peter Hopler and to his heirs and assigns forever all that other lot of land also in the township of Pequanack lying about a quarter of a mile from the road that leads from Boonton to Frederick Miller on the north east side of said road about north east from where Frederick Hopler now lives- beginning at a small black oak saplin, the north east corner of Jacob Kanous’ lands, being also a corner in the Boonton tract; thence /1/ north sixty two degrees with twenty chains partly by a stone fence to a corner in a road lately laid out from Jacob Demouth’s barn to the publick road near Frederick Hopler’s; thence /2/ along said road or near the same north forty one degrees east twelve chains and fifty links to another line of the Boonton tract; thence /3/ along the same southerly about five chains to another line thereof; thence /4/ along the same to the place of beginning, containing twenty acres be the same more or less.

Fourth I give and bequeath unto my son, Frederick Hopler, during his natural life and to his heirs after his decease the following lots of land and premises situate in the township of Pequanack aforesaid.

First lot bounded as follows. Beginning at the south east end of the bridge that crosses the Beaver brook in the road leading from where I now live and to Frederick Miller’s; thence /1/ southeasterly along in the middle of the road fourteen chains and forty three links thence /2/ south forty one degrees and thirty minutes west nine chains and eighty seven links; thence /3/ north fifty two degrees and thirty minutes west to the said Beaver brook; thence /4/ up the stream of said brook the final courses thereof to the place of beginning containing fifteen acres be the same more or less.

The second lott, called the barn lot, beginning at the north east side of a large rock in the road about three or four chains southeasterly from my dwelling house; thence /1/ south twenty four degrees west two chains; thence /2/ south fifty nine degrees and thirty minutes east eight chains and fifty links; thence /3/ north twenty four degrees east two chains to the middle of the aforesaid road; thence /4/ along in the said road north fifty nine degrees and thirty minutes west eight chains and fifty links to the place of beginning, containing one acre and seventy hundredths of an acre.

Fifthly all the residue of my land, not heretofore bequeathed, situate on the northeast side of the road leading from William Scott’s to the bridge crossing the beaver brook near the school house, I give and bequeath unto my son, Frederick Hopler, during his natural life and to his heirs after his decease forever.

Sixthly all the residue of my land not heretofore bequeathed, lying on the southwest side of the road leading from William Scott’s to the bridge crossing the beaver brook near the school house in Rockaway valley I give and bequeath unto my son, Peter Hopler, and to his heirs and assigns forever.

Seventhly after my Just debts are paid I give and bequeath all my personal estate to my seven daughters first above named and the heirs of my daughter, Mary, deceased, that is, the heirs of my daughter, Mary, deceased, to have one eighth part thereof and that to be divided, share and share alike amongst them and my seven daughters above named to have seven eighths thereof that is of my personal estate after the debt are paid to be divided share and share alike.

I appoint Jacob Demouth and my son-in-law, Henry Mowrison, to be executors to this, my testament and last will.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the day and year above written.

Conrad Hopler, his mark

Signed, sealed, published, and declared by the said Conrad Hopler to be his testament and last will in the presence of us:

Thomas Vanwinkle

John Kanouss

Thomas Kanouse

Henry Morrison renounced April 10, 1816, witnessed by Hezekiah Schofield and James Lyon.

Proved by Thomas Vanwinkle May 3, 1816.

Inventory by Aaron Miller and William Allger

Notes against:

Mary Vanwinkle  7.70

Frederick Hopler  29.80

Tunis Kanouse  6.90

James Lyon  22.05

David Kanouse  31.35

Matthew Stagg 5.35

Thomas Stagg  1.06

Isaac Tuttle  9.62

Peter Earl  3

Aaron Miller  4.45

Jacob Demouth  3.42

James Shaw  2.29

Conrad Kanouse  9.25

Bond against Jacob Kanouse Junior  300

In hand of John Earl  0.87

In hand of James Cardiff  0.66

In hand of John Pier  0.12

Triple Cousins

Two interesting DNA matches appeared at 23andMe on my father's side.

They are close cousins to each other.  Each shares one to four small segments of DNA with my father and his siblings.

Sharing several small segments can indicate endogamy, or intermarrying within a small group of people over several generations.

Below is the DNA shared by my aunt and these two matches.

A comparison of family trees produced the same location of Morris County, New Jersey.  From there, we had to figure out the common ancestors, which turned out to be on more than one line, as predicted by the DNA.  These two DNA cousins are descended from Anna Augusta Cook (born 1843) and James Augustus Estler (1840-1921).

The common ancestors were:

- John Cook (1745-1821) and Jane Peer (dates not determined): My sixth great grandparents.
  My line descends from their son, Henry Cook (1777-1831).
  The Estler/Cook cousins descend from another son, David Cook (1780-1860).

- George Wiggins (dates not determined) and Unknown: My sixth great grandparents.
  My line descends from their daughter, Susannah Wiggins.
  The Estler/Cook cousins descend from another daughter, Jemima Wiggins (1780-1851).

Yes, two brothers married two sisters.

- Jacob vanderHoof (1774-1847) and Ann Hopler (1772-1841): My fifth great grandparents.
  My line descends from their daughter, Elizabeth vanderHoof (1799-1878).
  The Estler Cook cousins descend from another daughter, Charlotte vanderHoof (1809-1886).



A family tree contained a picture of James Augustus Estler and ten of his children.  These children are my cousins in three different ways.

If anyone has further information on Wiggins in Morris County, New Jersey, please reach out to me.  Thank you.

Genealogy Brick Wall Crumbled

Brick wall down!  The parents of Mary Neil, my 3rd great grandmother, have been discovered.

Five generations of my father's family tree.
The focus of this discussion is Mary Neil (1830-1898), a great great grandmother of my father.

Mary Neil married Calvin Cook in 1847.  Like most of the marriages recorded in Morris County, New Jersey in this time period, the names of parents were not included.

New Jersey County Marriage collection at FamilySearch.org.  Free index and free images.

In other records, Mary was born in New Jersey around the year 1830.  As time went on, some of her children recorded her name as O'Neill on their documents and gave her birthplace as Ireland.

In the 1870s, the family relocated to Jersey City in Hudson County.  Calvin died in Jersey City in 1889.  I found his death certificate with no difficulty in the Archives in Trenton; however, I could not locate his final resting place "at Dover" until someone kindly posted on FindAGrave the stone for Calvin and Mary's son, William Cook, who died in 1871.  The family plot is located at Locust Hill Cemetery in Dover, Morris County.  This was discovered over two years ago.

Mary's final passage is recorded on the same stone as her husband, Calvin.  She died August 9, 1898.

Great!  I had Mary's date of death.  But I still could not find a death certificate or obituary for her.

Time passed.  Recently I was at the Morristown and Morris Township Library and checked the Morris County newspapers again.  The few papers for the area for 1898 were published weekly, so I did not have too much to sift through.  This time, an obituary in the paper "The Iron Era" from Dover caught my attention.  Mary A Keating died on August 9, 1898 and was buried at Locust Hill Cemetery-- just like my Mary.  She was the wife of Nicholas Keating and lived in Rockaway.  No other family members were mentioned.

Could Mary Keating be Mary Neil, widow of Calvin Cook?

Digitized newspaper collection at the Morristown and Morris Township Library.  Free on-site usage.

At home, I checked the online index of New Jersey marriages at FamilySearch.  Calvin Cook died in 1889, so if Mary remarried, the date would be in the 1890s.  And there it was.  Mary remarried in 1892 (this is the correct year) in Jersey City to Nicholas Keating.

FamilySearch.org.  New Jersey Marriages.
This is a free index.  The images are not online.  They are at the Archives in Trenton.

This marriage record was my best chance of finding out the names of Mary Neil's parents, as the record was created during Mary's life.

I looked through the index at FamilySearch for Mary's death certificate, but found no matching entry.  Both Mary and Nicholas died in 1898 and their estates were probated through the Surrogate's Office of Morris County.

MorrisSurrogate.com
This is a free service to search probated estates in Morris County, New Jersey.
The actual files are in the court house.  [The other twenty New Jersey counties are online at FamilySearch.org.]

At the Archives in Trenton, I found Mary's marriage record to Nicholas Keating.  Her parents were listed as Charles O'Neill and Catharine Brougham, both of Ireland.  (This explains the source of the names for two of Mary's children.)

Witnesses were Margaret Tower, Mary's daughter; and Harry Tower, Mary's son-in-law.

I found a death certificate for Mary Keating.  No day of death is on the certificate; only the month and year- August 1898.  Maybe this is why it missed the index?  I looked at the microfilm roll of deaths from 1 July 1898 through 30 June 1899, Morris County, surname K.  This same method did not produce a death certificate for Nicholas Keating, who died 21 December 1898 according to his estate papers.

Whoever provided the information for Mary's death certificate only knew that her mother was "Katie."  This is why it is best to try to obtain a record created during the person's life.  (Cause of death was "cerebral haemorrage," probably a stroke.)

I went through the census to find Nicholas Keating.  In the 1860 federal census in Rockaway, Nicholas and his first wife, Catherine Shaw (1825-1891), were living next door to Mary Neil and her first husband, Calvin Cook.  32 years later, both of their spouses would be dead and Nicholas and Mary would marry each other.  For the record, Catherine Shaw was not merely a neighbor.  She was a first cousin of Calvin's father; the common ancestors were Conrad Hopler (1730-1815) and Elizabeth DeMouth (1735-1812).

In the 1895 New Jersey state census, Mary and Nicholas were residing together in Rockaway.  Had I not made the connection with the obituary, this piece of the puzzle could have provided a big clue.  I do not know how the three people named Nix tie into this yet, but look at the last person in the household, a child, Francis A Peck.  He is a grandson of Mary.  His parents were Calvin Peck (1848-1923) and Catherine Cook (1854-1885).  Francis was born on the 28th of April in 1885 in Jersey City.  Three weeks later, on the 17th of May, his mother, Catherine, died.

Mary's estate papers clearly list her surviving children and her grandson.  But estates are organized by the surname of the deceased, not by those who inherit.

Mary also left money to Louisa Lee "of Dover, N[ew] J[ersey], niece of my deceased husband Calvin Cook."  I don't know why Louisa received this special treatment.  Louisa's mother was Anna Cook, a sister of Calvin; her father was Jesse Lee.

Next I need to research Charles O'Neill and Catharine Brougham.  I'm not convinced that they were Irish.

DNA from Morris County, New Jersey: Family Tree DNA

At FamilyTreeDNA, my uncles share a segment on chromosome 1 with two individuals.

We need to know if these two DNA cousins match each other in the same spot.  FamilyTreeDNA does not allow you to make this comparison.  One of the cousins checked on his end, and sure enough, he matches this other cousin on the same segment.

Common ancestors of all of us were Richard/Dirk Vanderhoof (b 1745) and Catrina Young/Jong (b 1753).  My line descends from Dirk and Catrina's son, Jacob Vanderhoof (1774-1847) and then granddaughter, Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878).  The cousin in blue in the first graph is also descended from Jacob Vanderhoof, but through Jacob's son, Peter Vanderhoof (1797-1847).

The cousin in orange descends from Dirk and Catrina's daughter, Elizabeth Vanderhoof (b1775).  She married John Taylor.

But that's not all.

The cousin in orange also descends from Frederick DeMouth and Charlotte Muller/Miller.  For my line, they were the maternal grandparents of Ann Hopler (1772-1841) - wife of Jacob Vanderhoof (1774-1847).  If the other distant cousin on this segment (the "blue cousin") is not descended from DeMouth and Miller, then we can say that the DNA came from Vanderhoof and Young.  With the close geography and intermingling of these lines, we may not be able to sort out exactly whose DNA this is- just that it is from the Morris County lines.